


Of Pirates and Princes

by daysinjune



Series: Legends of the Mystical Worlds [1]
Category: The Boyz (Korea Band)
Genre: Additional Warnings In Author's Note, Adventure, Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Pirate, Attempt at Humor, Enemies to Lovers, Eventual Smut, Fluff, Hate to Love, Historical Fantasy, Inspired by Pirates of the Caribbean, Juyeon is Bad At Feelings, Juyeon is a pirate captain, Love/Hate, M/M, Mythical Beings & Creatures, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Romance, Slow Burn, Younghoon is a prince
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2021-02-01
Packaged: 2021-03-05 05:47:17
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 15,069
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25339351
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daysinjune/pseuds/daysinjune
Summary: Many centuries ago, the royal family lost a magic jewel that was given to them by a powerful sea witch. It’s now hidden somewhere on an island surrounded by dangerous, bloodthirsty sirens. When the king hears about pirate captain Lee Juyeon, the only person known to have ever survived an encounter with sirens, he sends the rebellious pirate on a quest to find the magic jewel for him.To keep an eye on him during his journey, they send him someone to join his crew. That someone turns out to be no one less than the annoying(ly handsome) prince Younghoon…Alternatively: cold-hearted pirate captain Juyeon goes on an adventure with bratty prince Younghoon, and gets his heart melted along the way
Relationships: Kim Younghoon/Lee Juyeon (The Boyz)
Series: Legends of the Mystical Worlds [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1835146
Comments: 33
Kudos: 99





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Warnings:  
> \- Some violent scenes (not graphic)  
> \- Strong language  
> \- Slight (internal) homophobia  
> \- Mentions of robbery, hijacking, killing and holding people hostage  
> \- Mentions of family problems / difficult childhood / child neglect  
> \- Short mention of non-con (not graphic, no main characters involved)  
> \- Sexual content (at a later point in the story)  
> Those are the warnings for everything I've written up to this point, I might change some warnings/tags as the story evolves. Let me know if I forgot anything that might trigger some people.  
> The warnings make it sound like a rough fic, but it's actually rather soft, there aren’t that many violent scenes and it’s mostly just a romantic story!  
> Also, I’m sorry about my English, I’m not a native speaker so there will be some mistakes (even though I always check multiple times). Feel free to correct me on those in the comments!

“And then I paddled to the closest island, which took me more than eight hours”, Juyeon recounted proudly. His female audience, completely invested in the impressive story, gasped.

“Is that where you got all these arm muscles from”, a young woman seated next to him asked flirtatiously as she grabbed his upper arm.

“You must be so strong”, another said. Juyeon grinned.

“Hmm, yes. What can I say, I’m just so strong, nothing can defeat me, not even those vicious sirens”, he praised himself dreamily.

“Yeah, it’s just like that old saying,” Jaehyun joined the conversation, sounding not at all impressed like the ladies seated around their table, but that could have something to do with the fact that he’s heard this story at least 20 times by now (and knows most of it is exaggerated), “the nastiest weeds don’t perish.”

Juyeons grin fell off of his face, a sign of victory for Jaehyun.

“Alright, it’s time to go back”, Sangyeon spoke before things got heated, usually being the only person with a sense of responsibility in this chaotic group of reckless pirates. Especially when they were drunk. (Which happened a lot when they spend their nights in taverns like this.)

“Yes”, Juyeon agreed, reclaiming his authority. “We have to set sail tonight. Sorry, ladies.” The women sighed in disappointment, clearly hoping to get some more attention from the handsome pirate captain. “Maybe next time we can continue were we left off”, he said with a wink while he stood up from his seat, even though he knew that wasn’t going to happen.

The women waved him goodbye as they left, their eyes still full of admiration. It stroked his ego, but at the same time, if he was being honest, attention from the ladies didn’t affect him that much at all. It just was a fun game, while it lasted.

They were walking towards their ship, through the dark streets of a port city they were about to leave, when they were suddenly halted. Kevin and Jacob were in the middle of singing a song about barrels of rum and a coffin with a dancing skeleton, a song they always sung when they were drunk and they _swore_ was a _classic_ folk song, but no one besides them had ever heard it unless Kevin and Jacob were the ones singing it.

“Sorry to bother you on this late night, gentlemen, but we’d like to have a private conversation with your captain”, a man in uniform spoke. Juyeon would recognize that uniform everywhere. Even in dark streets like this.

 _Royal army. Fuck._ He wasn’t prepared for this. He wasn’t sober, he wasn’t armed, he was tired, and most of his men were also drunk. He scanned his surroundings with subtlety, but there weren’t many fleeing options considering it was a narrow street and they were outnumbered by officers that had appeared out of nowhere. They stood in a circle around them, their hands ready to draw their sword if necessary, for when Juyeon would try to escape.

“For what reason?” Sangyeon asked the man that had halted them. “His punishment was to be abolished at sea, left for the sirens to devour him. The fact that he survived, doesn’t mean he has to be punished again.”

“We’d like to discuss something with him in private”, the officer explained. “If he does as we say, he won’t be punished again, don’t worry.” Meanwhile, Juyeon was trying to hide his face in the palm of his hand, looking down to his feet, even though he knew it was useless. The officers already knew Juyeon was among their company. _Had they been following him for a long time? How did they find him?_ Juyeon honestly didn’t know how, just that someone obviously had done a lot of effort to catch him. And succeeded, unfortunately.

“Juyeon”, Sangyeon said, his gaze turning towards where he was standing, a couple of steps behind him.

“Hmm?” Juyeon looked up nonchalantly, like he had only just noticed the scene happening in front of him. “Oh, you’re talking about me?”

“I think it’s best if you talk to them,” Sangyeon said, not playing along with his acting, “I don’t think you have much of a choice.” His eyes gestured towards the officers surrounding them.

The 15 officers (Juyeon hadn’t counted them before, but he did now, and they were 15) led him inside a building close to where he had been stopped. _How well had they been planning this out?_ _How did they know he was going to be there at that street at that hour?_

Inside the building was a room that looked like a dining room. It had a large table, carved out of expensive-looking wood. It didn’t look like the room was part of anyone’s house, it was just a generic chamber. No decorations, no family paintings.

“Let’s discuss here”, one officer spoke, as he nodded towards an empty chair. Juyeon understood and sat down. Some of the officers sat down as well, others took a standing position in different parts of the room, cutting off every possible escape route.

“Tell us about that story you were telling before, to the ladies in that tavern”, the officer in front of him requested. Juyeon looked at him, clearly confused.

“What?”

“The story about you in the rowboat, left to be killed by sirens. After you were sentenced to death for hijacking a royal ship.” Juyeon had certainly _not_ talked about that last part before in the tavern…

“You seem to already know quite a bit about it, what more do you need to know?”

“How”, the officer said. “How did you manage to survive.”

“Just, not give in to temptation, I guess. They’re not aggressive, you know. Sirens can’t just attack you, they lure you. That’s how biology works: the sirens need to inhale pheromones from you that come as a result of attraction, arousal, however you want to call it, in order to trigger their killing features such as sharp teeth and claws. You basically need to give in to them before they have the ability to kill you. So, if you just don’t do that, then there’s no problem, you see?”

“Yes, we know how sirens kill”, the officer said, sounding annoyed. “More specifically about that part where you resisted them, how did you do that?”

“I don’t know, man, I just did. To be honest, I can barely remember what went through my mind at the time”, he lied. “And due to my current definitely-not-sober-state, I can’t remember that much at all.”

“Then sober up,” the officer said impatiently, slamming his hand on the table, “because we are about to make an agreement with you and I need you to be clear-headed.”

“An agreement?” Juyeon asked him, confused. “You’re not taking me away again and sentencing me to death for a second time?”

“No. Not if you do as I say. Do you know anything about this jewel”, the officer suddenly asked, as he passed him a piece of paper, handed over by an officer beside him that had apparently been carrying it with him the entire time. On the paper was a drawing of a necklace with a large, beautifully detailed gemstone, shaped like ocean waves. Juyeon recognized it, he had heard stories about it. It had a unique dark blue colour. According to the legend, the magic sea jewel that went by the name Amphitrite jewel, named after sea-goddess Amphitrite, had a blue colour no one had ever seen. It wasn’t to be found in nature, only created by magic. When people tried to capture it in paintings or drawings, they often used lapis lazuli paint, because it was the closest colour they could find, but it still wasn’t accurate.

“I know it’s the Amphitrite jewel, and no one has seen it in ages. It used to belong to the royal family, but some idiot king lost it during an expedition on an exotic, remote island.”

“Okay, so you know about it. Good”, the officer said, not bothering to address the insults Juyeon had thrown towards the royal family. “Because you’re going to be the one to return it.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally I finished the first chapter of this story, I feel relieved even though there’s still loads to write. I’ve been making up this story since last year after I went to The Boyz' concert, but I only wrote some non-coherent, random scenes, so I’m glad I finally found some motivation now to write the story out properly. I know this was only just a beginning, one of the main characters hasn't even been introduced yet, but I hope this was enough to keep you interested :)


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 09/12/2020: now updated with a small drawing at the end :)

Juyeon was standing at the forecastle deck of the ship, looking over the water, when he heard someone approaching him, footsteps echoing over the wooden floor of the ship.

“You alright?” a voice asked. It was Jaehyun.

“I’m fine, don’t worry”, Juyeon said with a reassuring grin, before turning his head back fierce towards the water.

“Good”, Jaehyun said, not entirely convinced, knowing that his captain had the tendency to hide his feelings with forced grins and measured words. “Because we’re here, you know. We’re not letting you go through this alone.”

“I know. And I’m grateful,” Juyeon spoke quietly, the sound almost carried away by the sea wind, “this mission will be more dangerous than our usual ones, I wouldn’t hold it against any of you if you’d want to back out.” Jaehyun put a reassuring hand on his captains shoulder in a rare attempt at comforting the other. They were rarely affectionate with each other, Juyeon even less than his crew. There wasn’t much reason to either, unless they were drunk and wobbly on their feet and trying to keep each other from falling straight on their faces.

“Don’t be silly, of course we’ll join you. There’s always a risk, no matter what mission we’re on. We’ll get through this, as we always have.” Juyeon didn’t reply. He had worries storming through his head, but no willingness to share them.

The pirate captain was studying the map in his cabin, planning out his route, when he sighed at the realization it would take _weeks_ to arrive at the island in question, the one where the jewel was supposed to be. He put down his map and looked through the little round window on his right, watched people at the harbour unload ships, tether anchors and free sails. It was less crowded compared to the last time he looked, the working day was now coming to an end and people were slowly leaving. The sun was losing its brightness and filling the sky with deep orange colours. Juyeon wished he could set sail and leave the harbour as well, the sooner his expedition was done, the better, but they were still waiting for his… guard? Supervisor? Juyeon didn’t know who or what to expect, the only thing the officers had said was: “We’re sending someone to keep an eye out on you during your journey, he will arrive tomorrow before dawn, make sure you and your ship are there at the harbour.”

Whoever the guy was, he was going to be a pain in the ass, that was for sure. Juyeon was already silently plotting his murder at the back of his head, reluctant by the realization that the king probably wouldn’t be very pleased if he arrived with the jewel, but also one of his guards head on a stick… Though, _would he really care as long as he received the jewel? One guard couldn’t matter that much to him, right?_

“Juyeon, can you come down to the main deck, he has arrived”, Sangyeon spoke from outside his cabin. Juyeon awoke from his daydreaming and quickly stood up, his heavy wooden chair scratching the floor below him.

“I'll be right there”, Juyeon replied, already opening his creaky door and leaving the comfort of his silent room behind him. He descended the stairs with a confident walk, hoping to intimidate his new crew member a little with his authoritarian appearance. He had already put on his darkest leather coat, the one he got teased for by his crew because it seemed like he was trying too hard to look like a bad guy. At which Juyeon liked to threaten them that if they didn’t shut their mouths he would show them exactly how much of a _bad guy_ he could be.

Upon nearing the middle of the deck, Juyeon’s eyes searched through the small crowd gathered there to locate the newly arrived man. He found his target in the form of an unfamiliar figure, wearing a dark cloak with golden embroidery. Juyeon couldn’t see his face yet due to the hood of his cloak. What he did notice was that he was tall, seemingly taller than Jaehyun even, what unfortunately meant also taller than himself…

Juyeon cleared his throat once he was close enough to the group of people gathered on his ship. Within a second, everyone fell silent, even Eric and Haknyeon, who had seemed to be heavily discussing something. His crew stood aside, leaving space for Juyeon to come face to face with the unknown man.

Juyeon had always considered himself brave, but upon seeing the man’s face, _he_ felt like the intimidated one. The face looked strangely familiar, but also nothing like anyone Juyeon had ever met in his life. His gaze was stoic and eyes were dark, pitch-black hair partly covering the fair skin of the revealed part of his forehead, his nose high on his narrow face, making him look like the marble sculpture of a desirable aristocrat. Juyeon watched him grab the hood that was still partly covering his face, attached to a cloak that looked an awful lot like the type of garments people at royal courts wore. The young man lowered the hood down to his shoulders, his entire face now visible. Juyeon opened his mouth to say something, _anything_ , as long as it sounded confident and steady and didn’t give away how perplexed he was. But the man in front of him beat him to it.

“Where are your manners,” he spoke, “did no one ever inform you that you should bow in front of a prince?” Juyeon was too busy staring at his lips to notice that, _oh, they produced sound, too_.

“Excuse me?” Juyeon asked, lowering his voice in a futile attempt at sounding stable.

“Bow”, the man in front of him spoke, _ordered_. It felt offending, being ordered as a captain, who never took orders from _anyone_. Advice, maybe, but orders? Never. Juyeon’s guts turned upside down at the sound of it. His crew was watching them in astonishment, some of them with their jaws hung open, anxious to see how this situation would play out.

“I’m not taking orders from you”, Juyeon replied, clearly offended. The man in front of him grinned arrogantly, the left corner of his mouth curling upwards.

“Juyeon,” he said, his voice bittersweet, “the name is Juyeon, right? I don’t believe you are in any position to neglect my orders. You might be a captain, but you are also a citizen of this country. That means: bow in front of your royals.”

“Royals?” Juyeon asked confusedly. _Weren’t they sending him a guard? An officer? Who the hell was standing in front of him?_

“You don’t recognize me”, the young man stated. It wasn’t a question, rather a conclusion. “Allow me to educate you, then.” He put his hand inside the pocket of his cloak with subtlety, though it didn’t go unnoticed by the observant pirate captain. Before Juyeon could see what he had grabbed, the man in front of him reached towards the pirate’s left ear with his right hand, making a theatrical gesture as if he was taking something from behind the pirate’s ear. It was a cheap ‘magic’ trick, something that amused Juyeon when he was a child but had turned ridiculous now that it was obvious the person performing the trick was just taking the object out of his sleeve. Yet, the self-proclaimed ‘royal’ in front of him seemed very entertained by how he was now holding a golden coin right in front of Juyeon’s eyes. Juyeon wanted to roll his eyes, have the other know how lame he thought his ‘magic’ trick was, before his eyes fell upon the delicately carved face on the frontside of the coin that was held in front of him. ‘ _Prince Younghoon I_ ’ the engravings read. As to make his point even more clear, the coin’s owner turned his head ninety degrees and showed Juyeon the profile of his impeccable face, identical to the head on the coin. When he was certain Juyeon had gotten the message, he turned his head again and showed him a grin similar to the one before. “You can keep it”, he said, referring to the coin. Juyeon just stood there, frozen, no sign he was intending on moving any limbs any time soon, so Younghoon took the liberty of putting the coin in the pocket of Juyeon’s leather jacket himself. “There you go”, he said, patting the pocket two times after he had put the coin inside, clearly amused by himself. “Now, how about that bow?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter was around the same length as the previous, but I think I might make them a bit longer from now on. I’m going to try to aim for 1500 words, but some chapters may be shorter or longer depending on the content 😊 Thank you everyone who takes the time to read this, even if it’s just a few people who enjoy reading this story, it warms my heart <3


	3. Chapter 3

“Now, how about that bow?”

_God, what an arrogant piece of shit_ , Juyeon wanted to punch that dirty smirk right off his perfect little face. Unfortunately, as with most of Juyeon’s whims, it could cause him even more trouble than he already had, so maybe that wasn’t the most strategic thing to do.

Instead, Juyeon decided to express his discontent by doing a parody version of an elegant curtsy, bowing deeply through his knees with his gaze directed towards the ground as he graciously let his right leg slide behind his left, his arms slightly floating up in the air with his index finger attached to his thumb as if he were to raise the fabric of a Victorian dress.

“Does this satisfy you?” he asked mockingly as he directed his gaze upwards again, meeting Younghoon’s death stare, not a trace left on his face of the smirk from earlier. _Good_. The two of them exchanged cold gazes until the young prince decided to speak up again.

“It’ll do”, he replied briskly, raising his chin. “Now, order your men to prepare the ship for departure instead of having them stand there as if they’re watching a play.” Juyeon turned his head to see his crew indeed standing a few metres away from them as if they were watching a show. Some of them were staring at Juyeon compassionately. Others seemed still starstruck by the prince, their eyes big watching his every move. A few were trying to hide their amusement, Sunwoo pretending to scratch the corner of his mouth just to cover the smile he couldn’t repress, Kevin pressing his lips together tight as if he was about to burst out laughing any second now, with Jacob poking him in a weak attempt at disciplining his best friend. Juyeon cleared his throat.

“Raise the sails and hoist up the anchor”, Juyeon said, raising his eyebrows threateningly at anyone who dared to laugh. “We're leaving.” _The faster, the better_.

“Yes, captain”, the reply came instantly.

“Good”, Juyeon replied, directing his body away from the prince in front of them. Before taking any steps towards his cabin again, he looked at him one last time, as if pondering over what to do with him. “Chanhee, will you give our guest a tour of the ship?” he asked without looking at the crew member in question, instead keeping eye contact with Younghoon. Juyeon already knew Chanhee would be more than willing to follow the order, considering the boy had trained in the navy for many years, he basically grew up admiring the ruling family. Even though the boy had rejected many of the ideas that were once implanted into him, he still genuinely admired his royals, if the way he talked about them were any indication. It wasn’t unusual for people in this country to do so, considering the royal family had done a fair amount of good works; even Juyeon couldn’t deny that the way their country had successfully combatted famines and plagues under their rule, as well as stimulated the market by strategic trade with other countries, was remarkable to say the least.

“It would be my honour”, the delicate looking boy spoke, smiling kindly at the prince, unlike his captain, who still looked very much annoyed. Younghoon smiled back softly at Chanhee, a sight Juyeon hadn’t witnessed yet. For a second, he almost wished it was directed towards him.

Juyeon retreated to his cabin with no intent on coming out of it anytime soon. In the silence of his room, questions started running through his mind again. It felt as if there was some trick being played on him, some plan against him, and it frustrated him more than anything how he didn’t understand his opponents intentions.

At least an hour had gone by when Changmin came up to his cabin to ask if he preferred having dinner alone in his cabin, to which Juyeon replied he wasn’t hungry. Instead, Juyeon focused on mapping out his journey, drawing lines and X’s all over key points on his map, until his eyes started to sting and sleep took over his body. He slept just like that, with his head resting on his arms, still sitting at his desk with his map rolled out. 

It was still night when he woke up, Juyeon didn’t need a clock to know that. He was still tired, the sky was still pitch black aside from the stars, and the ship was quiet as a church, no sign of his men, no sign of a prince disturbing his activities either. He figured now was a good time to check up on the steering. It was only a short walk from his cabin to the rear of the ship, the quarterdeck, where the helm was. He enjoyed the ocean breezes and fresh air as he stepped towards it.

As he climbed up the deck, Juyeon spotted a human figure standing at the railing. A figure he was actively trying to avoid, and had hoped had been made up by his imagination and definitely was _not_ standing on a deck of _his_ ship, looking up at the stars as if they were showing him a spectacle. Juyeon considered stepping back, but before he could, Younghoon’s gaze diverted from the sky and landed upon him.

“No need to flee”, he spoke, loud enough to crush what little was left of Juyeon’s inner peace, obtained by spending some hours away from everyone. “I was planning on going back to bed anyway.”

“What are you doing here?” the pirate captain asked, his voice slightly raspy as a result of his tiredness.

“I’m a light sleeper”, the prince provided as an explanation. “Especially when sharing a room with people.” The statement made Juyeon wonder what room they had assigned him to. Knowing some of his men were chronic snorers, but others slept like the dead, he could either be very lucky or unlucky depending on who his roommates were.

“Doesn’t explain why you’re standing at this deck”, a bad-tempered Juyeon responded. Younghoon sighed.

“I don’t have any inner motives, if that’s what you’re implying. Just wanted to take a good look at the night sky, is all”, Younghoon said.

“Whatever”, Juyeon mumbled, deciding it was best if he just ignored the boy and got his task over with. He approached the helm, taking a good look at the sky himself, not to enjoy the view, but to navigate. He searched a familiar star.

“What are you looking for?” the annoying prince interrupted him, right when Juyeon spotted the Big Dipper constellation, which simplified his search.

“The north”, Juyeon responded curtly.

“By looking at the stars?” Younghoon asked, seemingly intrigued by the pirate’s navigation skills, even though he was definitely also asking questions _just_ to annoy the pirate some more. 

“Yes, by looking at the stars”, Juyeon replied, mimicking the fascination in his tone mockingly.

“Can’t you just use your compass?” the prince asked. He moved away from the railing where he was standing, and took a few steps towards Juyeon, which made the other one want to move away, if it weren’t for the helm he was going to need in a few moments.

“Don’t need it, so I didn’t bring it”, Juyeon replied, clearly annoyed.

“You were carrying one in your pocket earlier though”, Younghoon said. Juyeon was a hundred percent sure the prince was now only trying to annoy him and had no interest in learning anything on the navigation subject.

“No, I wasn’t”, Juyeon denied, having no idea what the other was talking about. Before he could tell the other that, the prince already had his hand inside the pocket of his jacket from earlier again, taking out a delicate, golden, compass-looking object and showing it to Juyeon to clarify his point.

“What’s this then?” Younghoon asked.

“Give that back”, Juyeon angrily said, snatching it back out of the prince’s hand as if it was his most prized possession. “That’s not a compass. Not one you can use for navigation, at least.” His eyes searched for the prince’s with a death stare, hoping to scare him and prevent him from ever touching the object again. “Don’t. Ever. Touch it again.”

“What’s it for then?” Younghoon asked, unalarmed. Juyeon sighed. No matter how hard he tried, the prince didn’t seem to be intimidated by him for one bit.

“Nothing of your interest.”

“Aww c'mon, don't act so mysterious, it doesn't suit you.”

“If this is your way of trying to convince me, you're terrible at it.”

“Let me convince you with a bargain then. You tell me what it's for, and I'll tell you a secret.”

“Why would I be interested in your secrets, I couldn't care less about you.”

“Bet you would like to know why I'm here though, wouldn't you?” Younghoon tilted his head mischievously with a soft smile on his lips as if he was about to pull a cheap magic trick on Juyeon again. _Play a game with me_ , his twinkling eyes said.

“Fine”, Juyeon surrendered, straight-faced, thinking about how to tell the prince the necessary amount of information without sharing anything personal. “This compass... navigates towards a twin compass.”

“A twin compass?”

“Yes, it's from a set of two compasses, made to direct towards each other”, Juyeon explained, all the while keeping his voice distant and unrevealing any emotion.

“Where is the other one then?”

“That was not part of the bargain. I told you what the compass is for, now it's your turn to speak.”

“Fine”, Younghoon sighed. He took a deep breath. “I'm here because I volunteered.” Juyeon had no idea what to do with that piece of information.

“So it was your idea? Why? Why would you want to go on a deadly mission?”

“You ask a lot of questions for someone who claims not to be interested in me”, Younghoon pointed out, a hint of satisfaction in his tone. “I could answer those questions, but you're not being generous with information, so neither am I.” Juyeon sighed, even more irritated now than he already was moments before.

“Fine,” he hissed, “what else do you want to know?”

“Where is the other compass?” Younghoon asked.

“Don't know,” Juyeon replied honestly, “my brother has it, but I don't know where he lives these days. I haven't spoken to him in years.” Juyeon still managed to sound unaffected even though the words carried a weight. Something in Younghoon’s gaze changed. It was as if a cord inside him had snapped, making a small part of the image he was keeping up of himself fall down. His gaze was more genuine now.

“Maybe you should put that compass to use and find him then”, Younghoon said matter-of-factly. It evoked irritation inside Juyeon, as with many words that left Younghoon’s mouth, but at least this time he wasn’t expected to answer any questions and give away intimate knowledge, so for that he felt relieved.

“You don't know anything”, Juyeon said coldly. “Don't bother giving advice.”

“I know what it's like to have a brother”, Younghoon argued.

“Yeah, well,” Juyeon snarled at him, “I bet there's a _small_ difference in growing up with a brother in luxury, within the walls of a palace, with parents and caretakers watching over you, compared to growing up with a brother in terror, within the walls of a house that belongs to a man who treats you like vermin and eventually decides to throw you away like garbage, leaving you to _rot_ on the streets.” An anger he hadn’t even realized was hidden inside him broke loose. He hadn’t intended to share anything so personal, but before he knew it, the words were spilled from his mouth. At least, unlike his previous attempts, he seemed to have scared away Younghoon a little now. The prince had no amusement left in his expression, instead his eyes were now facing the ground. When he spoke again, it was quiet and serious, drained of all playfulness.

“Is that why you despise me, because you think I'm some spoiled rich kid who grew up with the world at his feet?”

“Well, you haven't exactly done anything to prove me wrong, have you?”

“I see”, the prince replied. “I understand now”, he said formally, as if _he_ was the one talking to a royal. “I shall not burden you with my company any longer, then. Good night.” And just like that, he walked away. He hadn't even finished his explanation about why he had chosen to come on this mission, leaving Juyeon with even more questions than before.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter summary: Younghoon is turning into a badass and Changmin says you’re doing amazing sweetie ✌️
> 
> I honestly don’t know what took me so long to write this. I’m sorry for being such an unmotivated and lazy writer 🤡 My mental health has also been kind of a mess these last months, to the point where even writing, something I do for fun, felt exhausting and stressful.  
> I made a timeline for this story with all the events from end to start so I already know what I have to write, I just need time and motivation to actually write it…
> 
> But okay, enough negativity, let’s just get into the story now 😊 As always, thank you for reading <3

Younghoon didn’t initiate conversation after that night. In fact, he seemed to avoid Juyeon. Which Juyeon didn’t mind of course, he even encouraged it. The pirate captain had started eating meals in his cabin alone. He approached his crew members only when necessary so he wouldn’t wander around the crew’s chambers too much, always aware he could run into the prince.

It was on an unfortunate morning, two days after their last conversation, when he spotted _him_ again. Younghoon seemed to be in the middle of something, and as Juyeon walked closer, he saw how Changmin was teaching him how to tie a sailor’s knot. Juyeon was not within hearing distance, so he could only leave it to his imagination what Changmin had said that made Younghoon smile so sweetly.

Juyeon tried to ignore them as he walked by on his way to the quarterdeck, taking firm steps as he approached the higher part of the ship. He did the necessary adjustments to the steering wheel as per habit, this time using a sextant to navigate. He took his time studying the skies with the instrument and wondered distractedly if Younghoon was looking at him from where he was seated on the desk with Changmin.

“How long are you going to keep up with this?” Juyeon almost dropped the sextant in surprise upon hearing his best friends voice behind him. He hadn’t heard any footsteps approaching him. When he turned around, he saw Jaehyun with a questioning gaze on his face.

“What do you mean?” Juyeon asked nonchalantly.

“Eating alone in your cabin,” Jaehyun clarified, “locking yourself inside your cabin. Pretending a certain prince isn’t aboard your ship.”

“Doesn’t ring a bell”, Juyeon denied, facetious. Jaehyun rolled his eyes.

“Have dinner with us tonight”, Jaehyun advised. Juyeon sighed, mostly because he was aware it was the right thing to do. Putting himself into solitary wasn’t an option. It had already started to affect his mood, and he was avoiding captain duties.

“It might get turbulent.”

“Doesn’t it always? I mean, unless you start pouring Kevin too much rum, how bad can it get?”

“I wasn’t talking about dinner, I meant the weather.”

“Oh.”

“We are headed towards an area that is notorious for heavy storms.”

“I’ll see if we can do any preparations.”

“Good.”

“But only if you have dinner with us tonight”, Jaehyun negotiated.

“I don’t-”

“Great, see ya tonight!” Jaehyun said before Juyeon had any chance to turn the offer down, already starting to walk away, leaving his captain alone on the deck again. Juyeon groaned. In no time, Jaehyun was already on the main deck again and out of hearing distance. Juyeon watched how he enthusiastically greeted Changmin and Younghoon as he passed them by. Younghoon politely returned the greeting with that dreamy smile he reserved for… well, everyone but Juyeon, actually.

After he had spent the day pondering over the advantages and disadvantages of staying inside his cabin, and gathered his courage, Juyeon decided to head towards the eating room for dinner.

The room fell silent once he stepped inside. Everyone had gathered around the large dinner table, covered with currently still empty dishes and lit candles, just like usual, except now at the head of the table, on the opposite side of where Juyeon usually sat, was a person that Juyeon liked to ignore. He felt the nervous gazes of his crew members as he sat down, the atmosphere was undeniably tense. As Juyeon pulled his chair from under the table and looked up, he met gazes with Younghoon, who had an unreadable expression on his face. Juyeon looked away.

“Dinner will be ready in a few minutes,” Chanhee informed from where he was busy preparing food in the adjoining cooking room. The smell of roasted, salted beef floated through the air. Haknyeon took the initiative of providing everyone their drinks, grabbing a pitcher of beer and pouring the liquid into their glasses. He started with Juyeon as per habit, and followed the table clockwise.

“I’ll get some wine for you, your highness”, Haknyeon offered once he reached Younghoon. Juyeon almost choked on his beer because of how much aversion he felt upon hearing how politely his crew member addressed the prince, almost as if he was trying to impress him, giving him a special treatment.

“That’s okay,” Younghoon declined, “I’ll have the same as you tonight.”

“Are you sure? We have enough wine”, Haknyeon insisted.

“I’m sure”, Younghoon said, sounding determined.

“As you wish”, Haknyeon said while he poured some beer into the prince’s cup. Younghoon took a hesitant sip while Haknyeon finished going around the table. The expression on Younghoon’s face was neutral to the unobservant eye, but once taking a better look, it was obvious he was putting in all effort to hide how awful he deemed the taste of his mundane drink, being used to whatever high-quality drinks he was served inside his palace. Juyeon enjoyed watching him drink it reluctantly. Unfortunately, it only took a few moments before Chanhee came out to serve the food to the table and everyone put down their drinks in order to have their plates filled. This time it was Younghoon who got the honour of being served first, with Chanhee guiding a ladle of cooked vegetables towards his plate.

“I’ll wait. Serve your captain first”, Younghoon interrupted him. Chanhee froze with the ladle still in his hand. Slightly confused, he nodded and took Juyeon’s plate to give him the vegetables instead. Juyeon raised an eyebrow at Younghoon, who was wearing the same stoic expression on his face as before.

Jaehyun cleared his throat.

“Now that you’re here, captain”, Jaehyun spoke, “there’s some things we should discuss. We noticed the sails could use some improvement, by doing some extra sewing they would be more suitable for when we might sail into a storm.”

“I see”, Juyeon replied. “Someone can climb up the rigging tomorrow and pull a sail down, then we’ll look into it.”

“Okay”, Jaehyun said. “Any volunteers?” he asked. Of course, there weren’t any. It was a hateful task, even more for people who were afraid of heights. No one spoke up, instead, everyone looked down at their plate.

“I’ll do it”, Younghoon replied sure-footed. Heads were raised in astonishment at the prince’s reply. For the second time that night, Juyeon raised an eyebrow at him.

“I don’t think you’re suitable for that”, Juyeon responded sceptically.

“With all due respect, but I beg to differ”, the prince replied. A gasp escaped someone’s mouth upon hearing that answer. As Juyeon made eye contact with Younghoon again, he saw the challenge in the prince’s eyes.

“Alright, go ahead then.”

And that’s how Juyeon found himself the next day, on his familiar main deck, looking up at Younghoon, who was climbing up the rigging. Though he would never admit it, he had never been very fond of heights and always felt an unpleasant feeling in his gut every time he saw someone up there.

“You’re doing amazing, your highness!” Changmin shouted from where he was standing next to Juyeon. Juyeon rolled his eyes.

The sail fell down gracefully and without any incidents. Even though Younghoon was high up there, too far away to read his exact expression, Juyeon could see the smirk on his face.

It was only a moment, and then the prince was climbing back down. He now seemed a practiced climber, not a struggle visible as he came down.

Once he set foot on the deck again, he raised his eyebrows at Juyeon.

“Good, now we can get to the real work”, Juyeon stated, unimpressed. “Once the needlework for this one is done, you can take the other sails down one by one until they’re all done.” For a split second, Younghoon’s face seemed unable to hide his displeasure, but then he quickly pulled himself together and tightly pressed his lips together. The stoic gaze made its appearance again.

“Understood”, he replied obediently.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not making any promises because there are no certainties in my life at the moment and motivation comes and goes beyond my control, but I’ll try to upload soon this time. Thank you for sticking around <3


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It’s a longer chapter 🎉  
> Warning for this chapter: someone gets sick and throws up multiple times, I don’t describe it more graphically than ‘he throws up’, but for those people who are sensitive to that.. I’m really sorry  
> PS: I always forget to mention the name of Juyeon’s ship is ‘The Salty Briar’. I might edit the first or second chapter to mention this earlier on in the story because I feel like the name of the pirate ship is essential to a pirate story, but I always forget to mention it 🤡

The sails were finished just in time for when the skies started to darken. Until the very first raindrops fell Juyeon had been hoping he was mistaken and they wouldn’t have a storm waiting in front of them, but they were in bad luck. Black clouds were covering the skies. Juyeon was sure his sails were as steady as possible, but that didn’t mean he felt reassured. Even after having experienced many storms, there was always that unpredictability. There wasn’t much that could be done in a storm except for wait and pray the sea wouldn’t swallow up the entire ship. 

When the first heavy wind passed, one of the sails that Younghoon had hung up just hours before, after hours of needlework, broke loose.

“There goes all our work”, Sangyeon yelled through the sound of stormy wind. Most of the crew had gone to their quarters, where it was safer, but some of them had to keep an eye on deck. It was mostly the older crew members. Younghoon had volunteered to stay as well. He had an anguished expression on his face ever since the first sail fell down. At first Juyeon thought it was just because it was painful to watch the sails they had worked on for the entire day being torn apart, but as the minutes passed, he saw his skin pale like a dead man. Water was flooding on deck and they were trying to hold steady, but the boat was throwing them from one side to the other.

“Cut that rope off!” Juyeon ordered Jacob when a loose sail was starting to dangerously flap around. At that moment, Younghoon was being thrown towards the ceiling next to where Juyeon was standing. Juyeon saw how he grabbed it, bent over, and threw up in the angry sea beneath them.

“Your highness!” Jaehyun shouted upon noticing the situation. He ran towards the prince’s direction, though it was difficult with how high the water stood on deck, the entire area under their knees was under water.

“Stay where you are!” Juyeon ordered, not liking the idea of Jaehyun bringing himself in danger to run towards Younghoon.

“But he’s sick!”

“No one has died from a little seasickness!” Juyeon angrily replied.

“He has to be taken out of here!”

“I don’t take orders from you, Lee Jaehyun!” At that moment, while Juyeon was still angrily looking into Jaehyun’s direction, Younghoon suddenly fell down behind him. Juyeon saw Jaehyun yell in panic and immediately turned around to see how Younghoon fell with a splash in the water that flooded the deck. It happened just a few meters away from him. Juyeon forced himself through the water at a speed he didn’t know he could muster. He crouched down as low as he could, took Younghoon into his arms and raised him out of the water. At first, Juyeon was unaware if the prince was still conscious, but luckily, he started coughing at that moment, so Juyeon knew he was alright, just sick.

“I think I’m going to throw up”, he said with a raspy voice. Juyeon barely understood him through all the noise the storm was making.

“If you throw up on me I’m throwing you back in the water”, Juyeon threatened. Younghoon’s eyes widened, as if he had only just realized he was being carried, by Juyeon of all people. Juyeon took firm steps towards the stairs that would lead towards his own quarters, it was the closest to where they were standing, and his room was also built as the safest and most comfortable part of the ship. Juyeon made his way towards his room with Younghoon in his arms until he stood before his door and realized how difficult it was to open a door while carrying a person, unsteady on his feet due to the storm.

“I can open it”, Younghoon helpfully offered as if reading his mind, and reached out his hand to grab the doorknob and open it. Juyeon lead them inside and slammed the door with his leg so it would close again. He stepped towards his bed and lowered Younghoon down as gently as he could considering the circumstances, before grabbing the first bucket-shaped object he could find and holding it in front of the prince, just in time for when he threw up again. Juyeon waited, not knowing what to do except for holding the bucket in front of his face, until he deemed it probable Younghoon was done throwing up, and grabbed a handkerchief to wipe his mouth.

“Thank you”, the prince sighed through heavy gasps of air. He looked far from the impeccable prince he usually was, entirely dishevelled by the water and the rain, his skin pale, almost grayish.

“Don’t talk”, Juyeon replied with his captain voice, as if it was an order. “Lay down.” Juyeon grabbed the prince’s shoulders and pushed them down so he had no choice but to obey. Younghoon’s eyelids fluttered, as if he was about to close them. “Don’t close your eyes, it will only make you more nauseous.”

“But I’m tired”, Younghoon protested.

“Then don’t listen to me and stay sick, whatever.” Younghoon seemed to listen to the advice and tried to keep his eyes open, focusing on a particular spot of the ceiling. “I’m going to the main deck again, just stay still here, okay?”

“Okay.”

Back on deck, Juyeon was relieved to see his crew was handling the situation well. Jacob had gotten a little injured when he tried to cut off a rope, but it was nothing time wouldn’t heal. In fact, no one seemed worried about Jacob, because all eyes were on him, worried about the boy Juyeon had left in his room.

“He’ll be alright”, Juyeon reassured Jaehyun, who was looking at him sceptically. He didn’t seem any less sceptic after that reassurance. “What? He’s just seasick, it’ll pass.”

“Shouldn’t you stay with him? What if he chokes in his own vomit?”

“I will check up on him _after_ this storm has calmed down, Lee Jaehyun. Now stop complaining”, Juyeon said, and with that, the conversation had ended.

The storm had not yet entirely calmed down when Juyeon returned to his quarters. Jacob had gone downstairs to tend to his wound, along with Kevin. Jaehyun had gathered other crew members to take their place, though the situation had gotten a little less dangerous and less supervision was necessary now. Jaehyun and Sangyeon planned on staying a little longer but would soon go down to have some sleep as well.

“Come get me if anything happens”, Juyeon ordered.

“We will”, Jaehyun promised. “Just go now. Have some sleep.”

“I feel like it is not _my_ sleep you are worried about”, Juyeon suspected. Jaehyun only laughed at the accusation.

It had now somehow become Juyeon’s moral obligation to take care of the prince resting in his bed. Younghoon was still awake, his eyes still open and focused on the ceiling above him as if it was only seconds ago Juyeon had left. The pirate captain stepped closer to the bed to take a better look at him. His skin had regained some of its colour, though he barely looked any better. Puffiness and dark circles now framed his eyes, an effect of tiredness. He was shivering, his clothes still wet and probably turning cold.

“Take off your wet clothes, I’ll give you clean garments to sleep in.” Younghoon looked a little surprised upon hearing the order, but obeyed it anyway. While Juyeon stepped towards his closet to take clean garments, Younghoon undressed himself with weak arms. Out of all things Juyeon expected to see once he turned around again, he wasn’t prepared for the sight of a completely naked Younghoon. Juyeon hissed as he immediately turned his head again, not wanting to invade the prince’s privacy. 

“I said the wet clothes, not all your clothes.”

“They were all wet”, Younghoon argued weakly. He didn’t even seem ashamed about it, that bastard. He must have deemed it normal after undressing in front of his maids so often. Juyeon threw him the sleeping garments while keeping his gaze towards the opposite direction. Only after he was certain Younghoon had put on the clothes, he turned his head again. Juyeon grabbed clean sheets and blankets to cover the prince’s body. He tried to do it nonchalantly, not like a parent tucking in their child, but it was too gentle for someone who insisted not to care.

“You warmer now?” Juyeon asked just to be sure, because pretending he didn’t care had long been thrown out of the window now.

“Yes”, Younghoon replied. “I just feel… nauseous.” He sounded utterly tired, his voice barely a whisper now.

“It’s seasickness, it’ll pass”, Juyeon replied. “You can close your eyes and try to sleep now.”

Juyeon tried to rest while sitting on his desk chair, but he was too aware of the boy sleeping in his bed and kept unconsciously checking on his breathing. Sometimes he dozed off, but never was he deep asleep. Younghoon woke up some hours after Juyeon had told him he could sleep. He started coughing. Juyeon was suddenly wide awake. He stepped towards the bed again and held up the bucket in case Younghoon was about to vomit again. It looked like his body was trying to vomit, but couldn’t because his stomach was empty. He just kept coughing. Juyeon patted him on his back, but that only seemed to make it harder for him to breathe, a squeaky sound now accompanying the sound of struggling gasps for air.

“Don’t you dare choke on me, you pain-in-the-ass-prince”, Juyeon whispered, though there was no real viciousness in his voice.

Younghoon made a breathy sound as if he was trying to chuckle, but it was masked by a cough. “At least you finally acknowledge my title”, he tried to joke, his voice raspy and wheezy. Juyeon didn’t know what he meant at first, until he realized the word _prince_ had slipped from his mouth.

“I would never, you must be hallucinating”, he denied.

“I-” Younghoon spoke, his breathing slowly becoming normal again, “really like this hallucination.” Juyeon laughed quietly and hoped the howling of the wind outside would cover up the sound, because it would be embarrassing to admit he was genuinely amused by something Younghoon had said. Unfortunately, he could tell from the sparkles in Younghoon’s eyes he had noticed. “Are you laughing at me?” he asked, his voice still weak but stronger than it had been before.

“Yeah, because of how stupid you look right now”, Juyeon lied. Younghoon gulped before he took another deep breath.

“Understandable. I must look terrible”, he replied, as if it actually worried him Juyeon was making fun of his appearance. Which made sense, Juyeon realized, because all of Juyeon’s previous behavior towards him had mostly been insulting.

Juyeon took a look at his face, illuminated by the few candles he had lit earlier. The dark circles under his eyes were less prominent now that he had rested, but he still didn’t look healthy. Embarrassing really, how Juyeon still thought he looked more beautiful than anyone else he had ever seen in his life.

“You don’t”, Juyeon said quietly, deciding to tell the truth in a moment of weakness he hoped Younghoon would have forgotten in the morning. “Now lay down again and get your beauty sleep, it’ll make you feel better.” Younghoon smiled weakly, seemingly content with that reply. He laid himself down comfortably onto the mattress again, and took a last few coughs before shutting his eyes. It took barely a minute before little squeaks and snoring sounds escaped his mouth, an indication he had fallen back asleep. Juyeon didn’t know what came over him, but he felt the sudden need to brush the strands of hair away that fell in front of Younghoon’s closed eyes. His skin was heated, but not damp with sweat, which was reassuring.

But even after making sure Younghoon didn’t have a fever, Juyeon’s hand lingered. Longer than he could find any excuse for. His fingers traced the outlines of Younghoon’s cheekbones, and caressed down to his jawline.

As Juyeon watched him, he couldn’t help but think about a different life. If he had taken different paths, different decisions, and he would have been just like many people in his country, he would feel so different about the man in front of him. He could almost feel it right now: how admirable this prince was. If he hadn’t had such bad encounters with the royal navy, if it hadn’t become his second nature to disrespect authorities and feel threatened by everyone that tried to control him, he would feel honored to be in his company. Juyeon remembered going on a trading trip with his father and his brother to the capital city when he was still a child. Later on Juyeon would realize his father took them away on trips just to take them away from their mother, but at the time, Juyeon had actually enjoyed seeing other cities and going on adventures. His father had taken them to the square in front of the royal palace once, where thousands of citizens were waiting for the king, Younghoon’s father, to show up on his balcony and greet them. Juyeon had waved at him with his chubby hands and felt that spark of admiration he had lost later on in his life. Such a strange twist of events it was to now have that king’s son in front of him and be remembered of that spark. Though he had only seen him from afar and it was a long time ago, Juyeon remembered the king's face: robust like a statue, with the humanness of a charismatic leader that wanted to be part of his people more than stand above them. Younghoon was different. In everything his presence seemed higher, untouchable. Maybe it was why Juyeon felt the need to touch him in the most literal sense, to disprove that he wasn’t untouchable after all.

Catholics from the west had once spread the idea that rulers were a godsent, but Juyeon never believed in God, not even when he recited his mother’s prayers as a child. He didn't find any ground for God’s existence in any creatures or landscapes. It was all explainable by the power of nature, time, or in some rare cases, magic. Science, even if he had never studied it, made sense to him more than any religion ever could.

So why did something inside him urge him to reconsider those beliefs as he caressed Younghoon's skin and thought for maybe the first time in his entire life, that some things couldn’t be explained.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I would like to mention that aside from my semi-reliable, google-based research quests and watching pirate movies I don’t have any knowledge about (pirate) ships or life on a ship in general. I read an article about seasickness so I could describe it more realistically in this chapter, but forgive me for taking the liberty of describing some things inaccurately


	6. Chapter 6

Unlike most days, it was not the morning light shining through the small round windows of his cabin that woke Juyeon up. He woke up with the sound of someone knocking on his door. For the first seconds, he was confused as to why he had been sleeping behind his desk again, before realizing someone else was in his bed. More specifically: Younghoon. Noticing the ruffling of sheets, Juyeon figured he must have woken up as well.

“I brought breakfast”, Chanhee informed him after Juyeon opened the door and saw Chanhee with a large tray of dried fruits, oat porridge, roasted nuts and some herbal tea.

“I didn’t ask for breakfast”, Juyeon replied grumpily, annoyed he had been stirred awake from the few sleep he had managed to get.

“Not for you”, Chanhee replied matter-of-factly as he entered the room without permission and walked towards the bed, where Younghoon was sleepily watching the situation. He looked at Juyeon a little confusedly, before drifting his gaze towards Chanhee, who took the liberty of sitting down on the bed next to him. “How are you feeling, Your Highness? Has our captain been treating you well? You should come back to the crew’s quarters so we can take better care of you instead of staying here with this heartless barbarian.”

“I can hear you, you know”, Juyeon informed his crew member upon hearing the insult that was being thrown at him. His remark went ignored, by both Chanhee and Younghoon.

“I’m not feeling much better, actually”, Younghoon admitted. “I don’t think I can eat, my stomach still feels like it’s twisted inside out..”

“You have to eat something”, Chanhee insisted, grabbing a spoon and feeding Younghoon the oatmeal as if he were a child. Younghoon opened his mouth hesitantly, clearly not keen on the idea of having to eat breakfast. He eventually cooperated, though Juyeon suspected it was mostly just to satisfy Chanhee. He ate a few spoons of the porridge, until he no longer seemed capable to swallow anything. “Drink this, it helps with the stomach ache”, Chanhee instructed before putting the cup of tea to Younghoon’s mouth. Younghoon took a few sips.

“Thank you”, he said, though he probably didn’t feel very thankful for someone putting him through the discomfort of eating.

“Can I get you anything else?”

“No. I think I’m just going to rest a little while longer”, Younghoon replied.

“Very well, do you want us to move you to your own bed?” Chanhee asked. At that question, Younghoon looked at Juyeon again, whose face showed nothing but disinterest. He shrugged.

“It’s whatever, I’m going out to do repair works on deck anyway”, Juyeon said.

“I think I’ll stay here for a little while longer”, Younghoon said to Chanhee, who nodded understandingly.

“Very well, I’ll come check in on you every once in a while.”

“Thank you”, Younghoon said, before giving him one of his warmest smiles. Now that no one was paying any attention to the food anyway, Juyeon stole the oatmeal from Chanhee’s tray, ate a few large spoons, and threw some nuts and small pieces of fruit into his mouth. The expression on Chanhee’s face was clearly one of disapproval, but he couldn’t really say anything about it considering Juyeon was still his captain. Younghoon didn’t seem to see any harm in it, he looked slightly amused.

“He wasn’t eating this anyway?”

“Tsss”, Chanhee judged him, before standing up from the bed with a sigh and leaving the room, but not before reassuring Younghoon he would come back to pay visits throughout the day. Juyeon was being considerate, so he didn’t eat all of the food, putting the bowl of porridge back on the tray, keeping in mind Younghoon might want it later. Instead he took the equipment from his drawer he needed to do repair works on deck, grabbed fresh clothes to change in and put them on. He felt Younghoon staring from the corner of his eyes, but decided not to comment on it. He buttoned the last buttons of his blouse around his neck, wiped away some invisible dust from his shoulder and put on his leather coat.

“I won’t be back until this evening. Just ask Chanhee if you need anything”, was all he said before leaving his cabin and throwing the door closed behind him.

There was always a lot of work to do after storms. Sails, ropes and masts were damaged and needed to be repaired, the wooden floor of the decks were damp and needed to be scrubbed extra well so the wood wouldn’t rot. These days were always the most tiring.

“How’s the prince?” Jaehyun asked Juyeon as he helped him carry a broken piece of a mast away from the deck.

“I don’t know, ask Chanhee”, Juyeon replied.

“Was everything alright when you returned to your cabin last night?”

“Stop bugging me with all these questions,” Juyeon snapped at him, “just visit him yourself if you must know.”

“Why? Is it that hard to talk about him? Or is it because you took care of him last night and now you’re ashamed to admit a cold hearted pirate like you has shown goodness?”

“Shut your mouth”, Juyeon replied angrily, ready to throw the piece of wood they were carrying on the ground and let Jaehyun carry it all by himself.

“Why is it so difficult for you to show that you’re actually a good person? Why do you always have to live under that harness of faked badness and indifference?”

“I said shut it!” Juyeon yelled, so loud and outraged he was sure the entire ship must have heard it. He let go of the object they were carrying, it crashed loudly on the floor, and he saw the shocked look on Jaehyun’s face. Juyeon had never lashed out like that. He had never yelled at a crew member so loud and angry that they actually feared him. But now he saw the fear in the eyes of his best friend and he didn’t understand why he felt so bad about it, why he had always wanted to be a feared and ruthless pirate but at the same time couldn’t bear the thought of driving someone anxious.

So he fled. Eyes were following him as he walked away, and the worst part was he didn’t really have anywhere to go, because as soon as he entered his quarters he would have another problem in the shape of a person waiting for him, but he couldn’t stay here. Not until he figured himself out.

Juyeon felt angry enough to lash out again if Younghoon would get on his nerves too, but luckily, the prince was asleep when he entered his cabin. The first thing Juyeon noticed was that he had been throwing up again. Juyeon opened a window to get rid of the smell and emptied the bucket. He cleaned up the tray Chanhee had brought earlier, it had been left untouched, and tried not to wake Younghoon up with the sound of tinkling cutlery. But upon checking if Younghoon was waking up, Juyeon noticed the dampness of his skin. He also seemed to still have some breathing problems judging from the unnatural breathing sounds he was making. Juyeon carefully pressed two of his fingers against Younghoon’s forehead. It was warm. Too warm. Juyeon knew what it was like to have seasickness, and fever wasn’t supposed to be one of the symptoms.

Younghoon’s eyes fluttered open at the feeling of Juyeon’s touch. Juyeon drew back his hand immediately.

“You’re back”, the prince said, his voice raspier than earlier, which Juyeon assumed was because he had been throwing up again.

“You’re still sick”, Juyeon said. It was a statement, not a question.

“Yes”, the prince replied. He was gasping for air just to try and say that one word.

“These breathing problems aren’t normal,” Juyeon stated, “plus, you’re having a fever. Since when have you been feeling like this?”

“I-” Younghoon gasped, “have been feeling nauseous since the first night. I could not eat sometimes, or I threw up. But sometimes I felt better. It was only with the storm yesterday…” He coughed.

“Okay, I get it. What you’re describing isn’t uncommon during the first days of living on a ship. So you’ve been feeling nauseous since you got here, but it’s only since yesterday it got worse?”

Younghoon nodded weakly. Juyeon sighed.

“It… hurts”, Younghoon said.

“Where?” Juyeon asked. Younghoon pointed at his sternum. Juyeon’s mind pondered over all the symptoms, but he was no doctor. He strode towards his desk and opened the drawer, where his map and navigation instruments were. He sloppily rolled out the map, situated where they were and scanned all nearby areas. After taking a close look, he took his navigation instruments and left his cabin in a hurry.

Back on deck, his crew was working in a tensed atmosphere. As soon as Juyeon showed up, everyone fell quiet. Juyeon looked at Jaehyun, but he was avoiding all eye contact.

“Make the sails a priority right now, we need to change course. Fast”, Juyeon ordered at no one in particular.

“What’s wrong?” Sangyeon asked.

“We’re going to make a stopover”, Juyeon replied. “We need to find a doctor.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I managed to write a little ahead, so you can expect a new update in a few days. As always, thank you for reading <3


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A smaller chapter this time, sorry. I’ll make up for it in the next one  
> Just to be sure no one is confused: the part written in cursive is a dream  
> Warnings for this chapter: child neglect / verbal abuse

Two days went by in a haze. Everyone had worked hard to repair the sails and make sure the ship would sail at its fullest capable speed. Juyeon had left Younghoon in the hands of Chanhee, who was now constantly watching over him. Meanwhile, he tried to shut himself away, spending more time than necessary at the quarterdeck to clean up and check op on the helm. He hadn’t even returned to his quarters. If everything went well, they would soon arrive at an island of the kingdom of Ryukyu. Juyeon had gone through two nights of barely any sleep, he had rested a little while sitting down on the floor of the deck, leaning against the helm. On the second night, just a few hours before dawn, he finally managed to fall asleep for a few hours.

_He was in his father’s house again. The tiles of the hallway were cold against his bare feet. He felt scared. He felt like a small boy carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders. With trembling hands he pushed open the heavy oak door of the room where he would find a familiar figure, sitting behind a desk._

_“Father, please call the doctor”, Juyeon begged. He fell down onto his knees, feeling completely powerless._

_“Now, why would I do such a thing”, his father replied, disinterested, without even looking at Juyeon. He was working on a new map. Usually, Juyeon would try to take a sneak peak, intrigued by his father’s work. As a well-known cartographer, he had mapped out many parts of the world Juyeon had never visited and could only dream of seeing one day. But today, Juyeon couldn’t care less about maps, his head was too full of worries._

_“Please, father, mother looks so sick”, Juyeon continued begging, as tears rolled down his chubby cheeks._

_“What did I tell you about interrupting me while I’m working, Juyeon.”_

_“Please, father, I beg you-”_

_“That is enough!” His father slammed his hands on his desk. A jar of ink fell over and spilled all over the sheet of paper that was rolled out. “Goddammit! This is your fault, you worthless piece of shit! Get out of my office!”_

_Juyeon ran away, sobbing. He rushed through the hallways, but they had suddenly turned endless. He kept running and running, searching for his mother’s bedroom. He had to find her, he had to save her. But somehow, the house had turned into a maze. He turned right and he turned left, but he didn’t have any sense of orientation anymore. Until he saw his brother at the end of the hallway. A wreck, just like he was, with tears streaming down his face. Juyeon ran towards him. His brother opened his arms, and Juyeon fell into them like they were two puzzle pieces falling together._

_“She’s gone, Juyeon, she’s gone”, his brother sobbed._

_“Ssh,” Juyeon tried to comfort him, but he was barely managing his own emotions, “I’m here. I’m here.” He hugged his brother tightly, his arms stronger than he remembered. His brother’s hair smelt like the bar of citrus soap Juyeon had bought for him at the market. He pressed a kiss on top of his head, and suddenly he felt confused how he had become so much taller than his brother. “I’m here”, Juyeon repeated, but his voice sounded deeper. Older. When he looked at his brother’s face again, he was suddenly not a little boy anymore. He looked just like the day Juyeon last saw him._

_“No, you’re not”, his brother whispered, before disappearing into thin air. Juyeon’s arms fell down, no longer embracing his brother. He was alone again._

Juyeon woke up to the sound of seagulls in the distance. As he rubbed his eyes, he realized his cheeks were damp. It had been a long time since he last cried in his sleep. He knew he hadn’t lost the habit, but bad dreams just weren’t as common anymore as they used to be. He quickly wiped away the dampness with his sleeve before standing up and grabbing his telescope.

In the distance, an island appeared.

They anchored the ship at a small harbour. There were only a few other boats, most of which were fisher boats. Juyeon was the first person to set foot ashore. He saw a few fisherman stand outside what looked like a small storehouse for ship supplies. They were the closest people within sight, so Juyeon decided to ask them for help.

“Excuse me”, he tried to speak in their language. He had been in the kingdom of Ryukyu to do some trading business, but his knowledge of their language was limited. “I need to find a doctor?”

“Doctor?” one of the two fisherman repeated with a better pronunciation, to confirm it was what Juyeon meant. Juyeon’s pronunciation was definitely a little off, but luckily the man had understood. Juyeon nodded. The man pointed towards the main road behind them that meandered its way further into the island.

“Follow this road, it will lead to the main square of the village. There you can find help.”

“Okay, thank you.” Juyeon bowed his head gratefully before he ran back to where his crew was waiting at their ship. While Juyeon was talking to the fishermen, everyone had left the ship, including Younghoon, who was leaning on Chanhee and Changmin for support. It had been two days since Juyeon last saw him, and he still looked just as sick.

“Follow this road”, Juyeon ordered the group of pirates. He took the lead. His crew followed.

Just like the man had explained, the road led to a square. After talking to a few market traders, one of which even spoke their own language, they managed to find a doctor. Half of the crew waited outside, and the other half went looking for food and a place to stay. Being the only person able to communicate meant that Juyeon was the one who had to come along inside the doctor’s office. But he wasn’t exactly appreciated, it seemed..

“You didn’t have to come along”, Younghoon sighed as they waited in the waiting room for their turn.

“What do you mean, who else will do the explaining”, Juyeon responded bitterly.

“I’m capable of speaking for myself”, Younghoon argued. He coughed afterwards, which didn’t exactly help him at sounding convincing.

“You speak their language?”

“Yes,” Younghoon replied, “I’m fluent in all our neighbouring countries languages.” He said it as if it was the most normal thing, as if he felt offended that Juyeon would think he _didn’t_ speak all those languages. “It’s called being educated”, he added, snobbish. Juyeon rolled his eyes.

“Wonderful,” Juyeon sighed, “you’re not even healed yet and you’re already back to being a brat.”

“I’ve been back to being a brat for a few days now, but you-,” he coughed, “wouldn’t know, cause you weren’t”, he coughed again, “around.” He took a few deep breaths to recover from all the talking.

“Stop talking”, Juyeon said instead of commenting on the accusation that was being thrown at him. He didn’t understand why Younghoon was making such a fuss. Why would he even want Juyeon to be around? Juyeon was sure Chanhee and the other crew members were much more pleasant company than him.

Juyeon didn’t have to think too long about it, because at that moment, someone came out of the doctor’s office.

“The next patient can come in”, someone spoke from inside the office. Juyeon helped Younghoon stand up by grabbing his arm, but he pulled it a little too roughly. On purpose. Younghoon glared at him.

At least they managed to get inside the doctor’s office more or less peacefully.. The doctor looked at them a little confused, as if they were a weird sight to behold. Juyeon figured he must not often have princes of foreign countries accompanied by pirate captains visiting him, so it was understandable.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just another side note: the setting of this story is supposed to be roughly mid 18th century, so Korea will be referred to as Joseon, and the Japanese Islands mentioned in this chapter are considered kingdom of Ryukyu (thank you google). Obviously there’s a lot of inaccuracies, for example the clothing I describe is more or less what you would see in western historical (fantasy) stories and not what people in Korea in the 18th century would wear. I don’t really know enough about that kind of stuff, if I’d have more time I would love to write a story that is historically accurate, but for now I’m just going to use my imagination, I hope that’s okay


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have exams coming up so this might be the last update for a while unfortunately :(( Sometimes I write a little in the evenings when I’m done studying because it helps me destress, but I’m not sure if I’ll manage to work a lot on this story

After some investigations and a linguistically challenging conversation (on Juyeon’s part), the doctor had managed to make a diagnosis. He concluded that Younghoon’s excessive vomiting had caused problems to the oesophagus. To not worsen his condition, it was important he took some rest on land, and drank a herbal tea the doctor prescribed.

“I can’t rest here, we’re on a mission”, Younghoon had complained with a weak voice.

“I’m afraid that if you want to get better, you don’t have much of a choice”, the doctor had replied. Younghoon had sighed, utterly tired and defeated.

Juyeon was quiet when they left the doctor’s office, both of them too tired to bicker any more. He handed Younghoon back over to some of his crew members who had waited outside. After instructing them to go to the local inn and put Younghoon to rest, the pirate captain went to find a merchant who sold herbal tea. It was in the town’s centre, on the main square, where they had passed when they were looking for a doctor earlier that day, he found the goods he was looking for.

“It’s twelve silver coins”, the merchant informed him after Juyeon told him he would like to buy a sachet.

“Twelve?” Juyeon repeated, hoping he misheard it. He searched his pockets to see if he had that much silver on him, but he doubted it.

“It is a special herb, imported from the Qing Dynasty”, the merchant explained. “Alternatively, I’ll accept one golden coin.”

As Juyeon emptied his pockets and looked at what he had grabbed, his eyes fell onto the golden coin Younghoon had put inside his pocket on the day of his arrival. For a second, he was unsure whether he really wanted to give that one away. However, he didn’t have much of a choice. He was about to offer it to the merchant, his hand already reaching out to give it to him, before someone suddenly grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“I’ll pay for this”, Jaehyun, who had showed up out of nowhere, offered. He showed his other hand, the one that wasn’t grabbing Juyeon’s arm, to the merchant. It was filled with silver coins.

“Don’t, I can pay him with this coin”, Juyeon replied. He didn’t need anyone’s help. Especially not his best friend’s, who hadn’t even apologized yet for their argument a few days earlier.

“That one’s worth more than twelve silver coins”, Jaehyun argued.

“It’s worth nothing to me”, Juyeon replied coldly.

“Then I’ll take it,” Jaehyun said, and before Juyeon knew it, he had grabbed Younghoon’s coin out of his hand, put it inside his pocket, and paid the merchant with his silver coins. Juyeon looked at him angrily, but Jaehyun didn’t pay him any attention, instead he took the sachet of herbs from the merchant with a kind smile and a thankful nod.

“I didn’t ask for your help”, Juyeon reminded him.

“But I’m offering it nonetheless”, Jaehyun replied. “I’ll bring this to the prince”, he added, referring to the sachet. “Unless you wanted to do it?” Jaehyun challenged him. Juyeon narrowed his eyes.

“No.”

“Good”, Jaehyun replied with a forced smile. Juyeon raised his chin and looked him straight in the eyes.

“Good”, he agreed, resentful.

Juyeon took a long walk around the area before he went to the local inn where his crew was staying. When he stepped inside, it was almost sundown. He was greeted by a woman who he assumed ran the place. She smiled at him from behind a counter. Her face looked young, only a few years older than Juyeon himself.

As Juyeon scanned the room, he noticed the place seemed like a normal tavern, not unlike the ones they visited often in their own country. The dimly lit room was full of tables where men and women were enjoying drinks. 

“You must be captain Lee Juyeon”, the woman assumed.

“Yes”, Juyeon confirmed.

“I have prepared a room for you”, she informed him as she handed over a key.

“Thank you”, Juyeon replied.

“I will provide you and your crew a free meal as a welcome gift, and an apology”, the woman offered with a warm smile. She was pretty. Her nose was sharp but the shape of her jaw was soft, as were her big eyes.

“Apology?”

“We didn’t have the amount of rooms available your crew asked for, so we can’t offer you a separate suite. Usually we have a lot of rooms available, but coincidentally, there’s another group of pirates currently staying here”, the woman informed him. 

“Another group of pirates?” Juyeon furrowed his brows. What were the chances of them running into _another group of pirates_. On this island, of all places.

“Yes, you might have heard of their ship, The Dazzling Illusion?”

 _Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me_.

“Well well, if it isn’t Lee Juyeon, captain of The Salty Briar”, a familiar figure spoke up as he stepped out from the shadows. Juyeon was walking through the hallways, about to warn his crew to watch out for rivalling pirates. He highly suspected the other pirates had already made themselves known though. They were never ones for subtlety.

“San”, Juyeon fake-smiled. “Always a pleasure to run into you.”

“Oh? Is that so?” San asked playfully, stepping closer towards Juyeon. “I bet it was also a pleasure to run off with Bermuda’s treasure, right under our noses.”

“Ahh, why don’t we all collectively forget about that”, Juyeon suggested.

“About what? That you stole it from us? Or that you lost it five days later? I mean, if you were planning on losing it, you could have just let us have it.”

“It was a long time ago… I didn’t even have my crew back then. It was just me and Jaehyun being reckless, we were dumb and inexperienced. Tell your captain I send him my apologies.” He tried to pass San, but the other pirate wasn’t letting him go, blocking the hallway.

“It clearly hasn’t been long enough, because I still hear people all over the country whispering about the infamous _Bermuda pirates_.”

“Shit, that’s why they call us that?” Juyeon asked while faking concern. “I thought it was because our dashing good-looks are as deadly as the Bermuda triangle.”

“Very funny”, San replied, without humour. “You know, if you wanna finish the triangle, you should let that pretty boy you’ve brought here join the group. He’s got my vote, if we’re talking about good looks”, San grinned. Juyeon’s face fell. “Care to explain what you’re doing on this island with our countries youngest prince?” San asked him, no longer playing games. More than a question, it was a threat. _If you don’t explain, we will find a way to turn this information against you._ “Why don’t you tell us over dinner, hmm?” San proposed.

With a straight face, Juyeon replied: “Sure. Let’s have dinner.”

“I thought we’d seen the last of you when I heard you were sentenced to death”, Hongjoong, captain of The Dazzling Illusion, greeted him when Juyeon and his crew arrived at the table. Everyone, except for Younghoon and Changmin, who had offered to stay with the prince, had gathered downstairs at the tavern to have dinner around one big table.

“You’re not getting rid of me that easily”, Juyeon replied as he sat down in front of the other pirate captain.

“Apparently not,” Hongjoong agreed, “it’s impressive. I’ve never heard of anyone who survived an encounter with vicious sirens. You truly live up to your reputation.”

“Jealous?” Juyeon called him out. Hongjoong chuckled.

“You might have survived a death sentence, but it looks like trouble is still following you, isn’t it?” Before Juyeon could reply, they were interrupted by two waitresses putting down their drinks at the table. It gave Juyeon a little time to think about his answer.

“Nothing I can’t handle”, he stated with as much confidence as he could gather. Hongjoong clicked his tongue disapprovingly.

“Always the one up for a challenge, even the ones that are too ambitious.” Juyeon raised his brows challengingly. _Too ambitious_? _For him_? _There was no such thing_. “I understand you’d want to take revenge on the royal court for sentencing you to death, but abducting a prince… that’s low, even for you.”

“I didn’t abduct him”, Juyeon denied, deciding to tell him the truth, even though it probably would have sound impressive if he lied that he had managed to abduct a prince. Everyone knew how well-guarded the royal family was.

“So you’re telling me he ran away from home and decided to join you on your ship for fun? Is that it?”

“I-” Juyeon said, and he wished he had a reply ready, but unfortunately, he didn’t. He didn’t know what Younghoon was doing with them. He didn’t know what lie he could tell either. There was nothing that would sound believable. 

“Let me ask you another question then: what are your _plans_ with him?”

“We’re on a mission”, Juyeon stated with a fierceness in his voice that made known he didn’t want to share any further details. Hongjoong looked at him for a few seconds, as if he tried to look for more answers in Juyeon’s eyes. And found them, apparently. He was a smart man, after all. Maybe smarter than Juyeon, though Juyeon was certain he excelled in other areas, which made him the better pirate captain between the two of them.

“You’re looking for the Amphitrite jewel”, Hongjoong guessed. The surprise was visible on Juyeon’s face, which only confirmed that Hongjoong was right. “It’s not that difficult to guess. It was only a matter of time before they’d make use of your capability to defeat sirens. They’ve been trying to retrieve that jewel for ages. And with reasons.”

“What do you know about it?” Juyeon asked nonchalantly, as if he was only just testing Hongjoong’s knowledge and not trying to see if he had any valuable information. Hongjoong narrowed his eyes. He saw right through him.

“It’s powerful,” Hongjoong said, “and if it’s not in the hands of a rightful owner, it can cause a lot of chaos. It was created for rulers, and only in the hands of a true leader it can have a good purpose. Now that it’s lost on that island, it’s transforming that place into a nightmare.” Juyeon saw how everyone at the table suddenly became tense.

“What do you mean?”

“What I mean,” Hongjoong said, “is that those sirens who guard the island weren’t always vicious. When king Ryonggwan went there on expedition, before losing the jewel, he was greeted warmly by them. But as the jewel was left without an owner and its power drained into the soil of that island, it slowly spread darkness. Harmless mermaids turned into bloodthirsty sirens.” Juyeon swallowed tensely. He had always known it was a dangerous island, that’s why they’d learned to stay away from it. But he had never learned to what extent. “And I’m not just talking about the sirens. Who knows what monsters it has created on the island itself. No one has lived to tell the tale, that’s for sure. And even if they’d make it as far as to find the jewel, they would probably be absorbed by its darkness”, Hongjoong added casually as he took the pitcher of beer and poured himself a drink. He stopped abruptly when his glass was half full, as if a realization suddenly dawned upon him. He smiled at Juyeon with mischievousness in his eyes and tilted his head expectantly, as if he was waiting for Juyeon to make a realization too. “Looks like I’ve answered my own question.”

“What?” Juyeon asked, confused.

“About why the prince joined you on your mission”, Hongjoong clarified. “Because, he’s one of the only people who can retrieve the jewel. If _you_ would try to take it, it would turn you into a monster.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Such a coincidence I had already been planning from the beginning to integrate members from Ateez (and Stray Kids too, though not in this chapter) into this fic and now last week they did that really epic concept at MAMA together. It was so cool, I watched all of their performances like 10 times


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m back :D It’s not a long chapter but it’s something at least..  
> Unfortunately, I’m still not writing on a regular basis because uni is seriously a mess right now, I don’t find much time/energy to work on anything other than my thesis. At least my exams are done now. I hope it gets a little better once classes start again next week, the first few weeks of a new semester are usually calmer
> 
> Just a few reminders for those who might have forgotten what happened in the last chapters  
> \- Juyeon and his crew are on an island (kingdom of Ryukyu) because Younghoon got sick and needs to rest  
> \- While staying on this island, they came across another group of pirates (Ateez members)  
> \- Last chapter, Juyeon learned more about the Amphitrite jewel and the island where it’s located (the magic jewel can only be owned by a true leader, otherwise its dark powers are released – this is why Younghoon is the one who has to retrieve it and possibly the reason he joined this mission)

Juyeon had spent his evening sitting – what was considered in his terms - polite and well mannered at the dining table despite the horrible company, despite being very much annoyed at every word that crossed captain Hongjoong’s lips, and now he was tired and done being reserved. He knocked impatiently on the door for the third time and considered smashing it down because _why the hell wasn’t Changmin opening the damn door._ Before he could put that thought into action, he heard footsteps on the other side. At last, he was met with the sight of a – confused – Changmin. His hair was messed up and his eyes looked smaller, as if he’d just been woken up.

“What took you so long to open the damn door?” Juyeon cursed at his crew member, whose eyes widened upon hearing his captains angry voice.

“I’m sorry, I fell aslee-”

“I need to talk to Younghoon. Now.”

“He’s sleeping”, Changmin said.

“I don’t care.”

“Can’t this wait?” Changmin tried in the most polite way possible. Juyeon groaned. He took the key of his own shared room – his unresolved quarrel with Jaehyun had led to the unspoken agreement that he’d share it with Sangyeon - out of his pocket and put it in Changmin’s hand.

“Go sleep in my room,” Juyeon ordered, “I’ll take over the prince’s supervision from here. Understood?” Changmin looked at him even more confused now, as if he was speaking a foreign language.

“You want to stay with the prince.. willingly?” he tried to understand.

“Yes!” Juyeon yelled angrily. In hindsight, that came out a little _too_ willingly. Juyeon’s cheeks turned a soft colour of red upon realizing what Changmin must think of this sudden order. The fact that Changmin raised an eyebrow, only proved that he was getting the wrong idea. Juyeon cleared his throat. He spoke more calmly when he added: “I’ll explain tomorrow, okay? Just… just take my room and leave us alone.”

“O- okay”, Changmin agreed. He nodded politely before mumbling a soft “goodnight” and sleepily walking out the door. Juyeon sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose in frustration. He looked at the bed where Younghoon was sleeping, the sheets slowly moving up and down, along with the pace of his breathing. As Juyeon approached the bed, he took a few moments to watch him sleep peacefully. Juyeon felt almost bad about waking him up. He couldn’t help but stare at him with the way he looked now, peaceful and relaxed, not as composed and stoic as usual. There was something about the vulnerability of his face, the softness, that had Juyeon looking at him much longer than necessary. He gathered his breath to say something to break the silence, to finally wake him up, but before he could-

“Are you going to keep staring, or do you actually intend to talk to me”, Younghoon said. His voice was sleepy, yet the sound of his words was steady and clear in the silence of the room.

“You’re awake”, Juyeon realized, taken aback. He felt even more ashamed now than during his earlier conversation with Changmin. Younghoon opened his eyes with an annoyed sigh.

“Did you really think I could sleep through you banging down that door?”

“We need to talk”, Juyeon said, trying to pull himself together and put his moment of shame aside.

“Then start talking, I wanna sleep”, Younghoon said, closing his eyes again and readjusting the pillow under his head to put it in a more comfortable position. Juyeon sighed.

“Why are you here?” Juyeon asked, the firmness of his voice demanding of an answer.

“This is my room”, Younghoon replied matter-of-factly, “you’re the one intruding here.” Juyeon rolled his eyes. 

“I’m not talking about this damn room. I’m talking about why you’re here with us on this mission”, Juyeon explained. At that, the room went silent for a while. Younghoon moved the sheets of his bed, then adjusted his pillow so it was leaning against the headboard, then moved his body up so he could sit against it comfortably. He rubbed his eyes to try and make himself more awake for the conversation.

“Why is this question suddenly so urgent”, Younghoon asked.

“I learned something today,” Juyeon replied, “about the jewel.”

“If you already know the answer, why bother asking me.”

“Because I don’t understand,” Juyeon said angrily, completely lost about what he’d thrown himself into, about what they were doing here, about what journey he was about to make, “I don’t understand why you need to find this jewel if you know how dangerous it is. This is about more than just sirens. The island is deadly. The jewel _itself_ could be deadly. So why even take the risk, why not just let it perish on that island. Why would you put your life in danger?”

“Because this is about more than my life”, Younghoon replied. He sounded utterly tired. “This jewel… You might think it’s just affecting the island, but its power is already taking more and more territory, and who knows how long it’ll take before it takes the entire world. Then there will be nothing but darkness. We’ll all be monsters. I know it’ll take a while before that happens but… now is the time to act. If we can just put that jewel around a worthy owner’s neck again, its powers will be controlled again. It’ll be able to do _good_ things instead of causing all this harm.”

“And how are you so sure _you_ are a worthy owner?”

“I can never be sure until I try it, but… I’ve done _a lot_ of research on that jewel, and I’ve read records that clearly stated princes have worn the jewel before without a problem. It’s not just entitled to kings. I think… as long as you have the potential of leadership, you’re worthy. After all, I _am_ an heir to the throne, it doesn’t matter if my father and brother come before me, as long as I also carry the potential for leadership, it’s okay, I think.”

“You think? And what about how we will find it, how we can defeat the monsters on that island? Do you even know what we’re getting ourselves into?”

“I… don’t know”, Younghoon replied, honest. “I have a map of the island, from how it was before. I have studied the occult, the Amphitrite jewel, and how to defeat the monsters we know of. I’ve trained with the army. I’ve read every single book about anything even slightly related to this mission. But I can never be sure.” Younghoon looked away from Juyeon’s puzzled gaze and glanced outside the window, at where the moon was shining less bright than usual, or maybe it was because Juyeon got so used to admiring it on nights with clear skies, at the highest point of his deck, where it seemed to be just him and the moon, no world and no worries burdening him.

“I can’t believe this…” Juyeon sighed, suddenly he sounded tired too. “I can’t believe you’d risk your life like that. And that your father would let you go on this mission, knowing well enough he might never see his son again”, he said as he looked at Younghoon, who was still looking out the window. He understood from own experience that there were fathers out there who didn’t give a shit about their sons lives, but the king…

“He understands this is the right thing to do. That doesn’t mean he likes it, but he respects this is what I want”, Younghoon explained.

“What you want? Do you have a death wish?”

“I’ve always been intrigued by the story of the Amphitrite jewel,” Younghoon continued calmly, unbothered by how distressed Juyeon was, “ever since I first heard it as a child. I don’t know, I… I always felt like this was my call. I never had much ambition as a prince. I didn’t want to study unnecessary stuff and then get married to some foreign princess and just stand there and be pretty at every social event the palace decides to organize. The only time I felt at peace with being a prince was when I started my army training, but even then, I always felt like wars weren’t what I was preparing for. I kept thinking about this mission at the back of my mind. I started studying it, like I said. At first, I didn’t really think I would go through with it. I just kept it open as an option, something I might do at some point. But then one day, it just fell together. I didn’t gather all the information or managed to do all the preparation I needed to know that I would successfully complete this mission, but somehow I found the puzzle piece I was missing, the thing that made me have faith that this _isn’t_ a suicide mission.”

“What _thing_?” Juyeon asked. Younghoon directed his gaze back to Juyeon’s face, his eyes brightened by the moonlight even though Juyeon could’ve sworn it wasn’t that bright before.

“You.”


End file.
